Slow Dancing In A Burning Room
by Little Miss Monster
Summary: Steve and Tony's relationship has been rapidly deteriorating for months, and one night they finally reach their breaking point. Based on the song Slow Dancing In A Burning Room by John Mayer.


_It's not a silly little moment,_

_ It's not the storm before the calm,_

_ This is the deep and dying breath_

_ Of this love that we've been working on._

A vase shattered on the wall next to Steve's head, showering him with shards of glass. He distantly wondered how expensive the thing must have been, but the thought was dismissed as another object flew towards him. He ducked, though just barely, in time to avoid impact. "What the hell, Tony!" he shouted. The soldier wasn't sure how the latest in a long string of fights with his very angry boyfriend had even started. Trying to think back to just a few minutes before, he wasn't paying attention and suddenly Tony was three inches from his face.

Their conversation had started out normally enough. They talked about the most recent S.H.I.E.L.D. projects, Iron Man's latest upgrades, old movies, and which restaurant they wanted to go to tonight. Neither was sure when their words had turned bitter and angry, but they had. That's why when the blonde looked up he had just enough time to register that a fist was coming at him before it collided with his cheek.

_Can't seem to hold you like I want to,_

_ So I can feel you in my arms._

_ Nobody's gonna come and save you,_

_ We pulled too many false alarms._

The two stood in an agonizing silence for what felt like eternity. It took Tony a few moments to realize what he had just done. He had _hit _Steve. He hadn't meant to. Honest. It was the heat of the moment, he told himself. Never in his life would he even dream hurting the man he loved. The man that made him soup when he was sick. The man always had a smile for him, no matter the circumstances. The man that stood in front of him, a bruise blossoming on his cheek and blood dripping from his busted lip. The man that wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Oh my God. Steve. I-I'm so sorry," Tony stuttered. Long minutes ticked by, but neither moved. "Please say something," he said softly. He reached for Steve, but he flinched away from the contact, his head snapping up. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second, but it was enough. The sheer volume of pain in those beautiful blue eyes tore at Tony's chest and made him want to hold on to him tight and kiss him senseless and make sure he never hurt like that again.

But it was too late for that. Steve clenched his jaw and left the room without a glance back.

_ I was the one you always dreamed of_

Captain America had always been his hero. He remembered pestering his father into repeating his stories of this incredible super soldier. He had had posters of the man lining his walls right along with his rapidly advancing schematics. The day he met the man he had thought his world was going to explode. The moment said man had first kissed him, he was pretty sure it had.

Steve Rogers was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to him. And, like always, he'd ruined it. He decided to solve his problems like always as well. He thought getting black out drunk like he used to would help dull the pain. But it didn't.

_You were the one I tried to draw_

Steve flipped through his drawings of almost Tony. No matter how hard he had tried, he couldn't capture him as _Tony. _He stopped when he landed on a picture that looked much smoother than the others and instantly recognized it as his favorite. The closest he had ever gotten to drawing him perfectly. It had happened before they had gotten together.

Steve had found Tony asleep on the couch and was surprised at how beautiful the man was. He looked completely different awake, more tense. And there was a smile on his lips, an actual, genuine _smile. _Steve had never seen that before. That was the first time he'd tried, and failed, to draw the brunette.

Sighing, he put the picture in the pile with the others and headed for the gym. Maybe, he thought, destroying a few punching bags would make him feel better. But it didn't.

_How dare you say it's nothing to me?_

_ Baby, you're the only light I ever saw_

A month went by. Then two. Then three. The Avengers continued their work as usual. If Captain America was eating a bit less and working out a little harder, no one said anything. And if Iron Man was a little tipsier than usual, no one brought it up.

_I make the most of all the sadness_

Steve tried to move on. Really, he did. After a few months, after news of the "Stony" split got around, he got a few offers. In a coffee shop, a cute guy with green eyes and black hair asked him to a movie, but he turned him down. A short girl with long blonde hair invited him to get dinner, but he turned her down. A man with brown hair and beautiful brown eyes approached him, but the captain fled before he could even get a word out.

_You'll be a bitch because you can_

Everyone in the tower was silent when a drunk Tony brought back a blonde haired, blue eyed girl and introduced her as Caprina. As he led her back to his room he laughed and called her Cap. All eyes turned to Steve. As calmly as he could, he left the building and was sick in the nearest alley. Then he started walking. He tried not to think about what was going on where _he _used to sleep. He didn't have any idea where he was going, but at this point he really couldn't have cared less.

_ You try to hit me just to hurt me_

_ So you leave me feeling dirty_

_ Because you can't understand_

Nobody knew where Steve was for the next few days. But then Pepper showed up. She was practically radioactive, her anger felt across the room. She didn't say anything to anyone, just walked to Tony's room and shut the door. That's when the screaming started. The rest of the team tried their hardest to ignore what was going on, but they still flinched when the elevator dinged and the doors slid open to reveal their not so happy missing team member.

He gave everyone a forced smile and quickly made his way to Tony's room as well. He left as quickly as he arrived, a still fuming Pepper slung over his shoulder. He mumbled an apology to them for the scene and went back into the elevator. The doors closed just as Tony came out, nose bloody and eye black. None of them felt sorry for him in the least.

_ We're going down, and you can see it too_

_ We're going down, and you know that we're doomed_

_ My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room_

Steve came back to the team when the city was in danger. There was another crazy person trying to take over the world with some weird mechanical monster. However, this one landed Iron Man in the hospital, so Steve decided to break it. He decided to break it into very small, very unrecognizable pieces. And after that was finished, he decided to break the man that built it, but just a little. Then he sat in a very uncomfortable chair for almost nine hours waiting for Tony to wake up. He told himself that he was just looking out for his team, but he knew that wasn't true.

_ Go cry about it – why don't you?_

_ We're slow dancing in a burning room_

When Tony finally woke up, the first thing he saw was a blonde man sleeping in a chair next to his bed, holding his hand. For a moment, a glorious moment, he forgot all about the last few months. He forgot about the things he shouldn't have said and the mistakes he'd made. He squeezed the blonde man's hand, trying to rouse him from his sleep.

Slowly, his eyes fluttered open and blue locked on brown. "I'm sorry," Tony whispered. Steve just nodded and held on to his hand a bit tighter, putting his head back down on the blankets. They could make this work, he thought. There would be fights, sure. But wouldn't that make the good times even better? He thought so. Maybe, just maybe, they could be happy. And they were.

_ Don't you think we oughta know by now?_

_ Don't you think we shoulda learned somehow?_


End file.
